Leica Q3

A long term review

It’s been a while since the Leica Q3 has been out and I missed the “gold rush” in publishing my review when the Q3 was still a wait-listed camera. However, I am glad that I procrastinated waited for 4 months as this gave me some insight that most of the reviewers, who only had the camera for a week, did not have. I aim to contribute something that only came from prolonged usage, as well as buying the camera with my own money. This review will be broken down into 3 parts followed by my conclusion.

  1. What we all agree with.

  2. My divergence.

  3. Contribution to the Q3 review pool.

    Conclusion

What we all agree with

Across the board it is acknowledged that the Q3’s image quality is great to the extent that if you have a bad image, its almost definitely on you. The lens is sharp enough for the 60MP sensor, AF is fast and reliably accurate. You can check out the sample photos in my Q3 Flickr Album. The newly added AF modes (eye/face/body detect) are also much welcomed. Shifting all the buttons to the right of the camera to fit a tilty screen generated a lukewarm response- not disliked, but not really liked as well.

One last thing that we all agree on is that this is an expensive camera.

My divergence

Honestly, there is not much to disagree on. Just some minor differences in my personal experience for a minor thing- the manual focus.

Manual Focus

Some reviews say that manual focus on the Q3 is a joy to use, which in my opinion is an overstatement. When you unlock the focusing tab to manual focus, the camera will auto-magnify your focusing point whenever you adjust the focusing tab to help you confirm focus. This makes the manual focus easy to use on the Q3. However, the lens in manual focus is still focus-by-wire (which means you tell the camera to shift the lens elements) which introduce a slight delay that results in a detachment from the “immersion”. Because of this, I did not use manual focus all that often throughout my time with the camera.

Also, the distance scale markings on the lens stops at 2m and then it’s infinity. Originally, I thought that was not going to be an issue. But after shooting with a “real” manual lens that has distance scale markings for 2m, 3m and 5m, I realised just how handicapped the Q3 is for manual zone-focusing without relying on its EVF or LCD. Maybe thats why the Q3 has a tilty screen, to make waist level focusing easier since you cannot rely on the distance scale on the lens.

Contribution to the Q3 review pool

1) The lens is not a true 28mm.

Once again, never thought this would bother me. Even after watching some Youtuber complain about this in his Q2 review, I still found it unrelatable … until I got my hands on the Voigtlander 28mm F2 and was using it side-by-side with my Q3. Somehow, I just felt more at ease composing with the Voigtlander than with my Q3. I looked online and there has been discussions, but nothing concrete on this topic. So here it is, my “investigative report”: is the Q3 a real 28mm?

The 28mm FOV from my Voigtlander and M10mono. Just have to take note of where the image cuts off. These are screen-shots from the Leica Fotos app using remote control function

The “28mm” FOV from the Q3, just mounted it onto my tripod WITHOUT any disturbance to the setup. Notice that you can see more tiles in front of the fire hydrant at the bottom of the image, as well as more scene on both left and right of the image.

I adjusted my tripod’s ball head to match the Q3’s top and left cutoff points to the M10Mono and I think I did a rather good job. We can now see that the bottom and the right side of Q3’s FOV is so much wider than the 28mm on the Voigltander. The tripods position did not change.

The difference in FOV between the Q series lens and the Voigtlander is small but perceptible enough to somehow affect how I frame and crop my images. Maybe its just a me thing, but I suppose knowing is always better than not knowing. And now you know.

2) No secondary card slot.

I have not experienced data loss while using the Q3 (other than due to my own foolishness), but I would really like to have another card slot to act as backup, even if it is a Micro-SD card. For a camera that is suppose to be your everyday carry, it is lacking in making sure that your shots are safe. Just a matter of time before your SD card gets hit by a stray neutrino and you lose your data. At the end of the day, the lack of a backup option really indicates that this is a high-end casual camera, instead of being something more for professionals.

3) Lack of proper control.

I cannot get the exact number of selectable AF points- Leica says the Q3 has 315 AF metering points though it probably is not the same as AF points. But whatever the number is, using the D-Pad to make drastic changes to the AF point is too slow. You can touch the LCD to change AF points quickly when using the LCD, so its not much of a problem if you only shoot with LCD.

If you are using the EVF, you can only double tap the LCD to re-center your AF point. That’s it. If you want to shift AF points, you either use the D-Pad, or you just move where your Q3 is pointing instead and recompose.

I understand if a joy-stick does not fit the design of the Q3, but other camera manufacturers, like Fujifilm, allow you to use the LCD screen like a track-pad to adjust your AF points while using the EVF. I just hope Leica can implement this method in future software updates.

4) Increased customisability.

I do not see other reviewers talking about is the increased customisability of the Q3, which I am really happy for. You can now bind custom settings to 4 Fn buttons, whereas for the Q2 you are limited to only 2 fully customisable Fn buttons. I immediately set up the 4 Fn buttons for 4 different settings that I always toggle. Compared to my Q2, the Q3 is much easier to use because of this.

5) The macro mode is great

Finally, even though it has been present since the original Leica Q, I still have to give praise to the dedicated macro mode with the turn of the macro ring. Seeing the distance scale change never gets old. With the bump in sensor resolution to 60MP, now you can get more details than ever for your macro shots. Obviously it cannot compare to a dedicated macros lens that can do 1:1. But as my everyday carry during the 4 months, it has served me well in taking random shots of insects that I encounter. Once again, you can check out some macro shots in my Q3 Flickr Album.

Conclusion

The Q3 is undoubtedly the best every day carry camera there is. But the problem is the price.

Leica Q2 still exists, now with much lower asking price compared to before on the second hand market. Failing that, there is also the RX1RII that offers the same feature - macro, phase-detect AF, 42MP compact full frame body and a tilty screen that a Q2 does not have. If you dont mind even older sensors, there is the Leica Q and RX1/1R for even cheaper on the second hand market.

So its impossible to justify spending so much money on the Q3, new or second hand, when you can get almost the same amount of camera for way less money. I have owned the Q2, Q3 and RX1, but only the RX1 is going to remain in my drybox for the above reason.

Some people will argue that the Q3 is great value in the Leica’s line up- you are getting a Leica lens and sensor combined for less than the price of a M11 body alone. But my counter-argument is that they belong to completely different categories. For the Leica M series, you are getting a digital full-frame rangedfinder experience that is only offered by Leica, which would partly explain the high asking price. But with the Q series, you are just getting another compact digital camera with the iconic Leica Red Dot. And like I have stated earlier, there are plenty of other full-frame compacts that brings you more value for your dollar.

This conclusion ended up being longer than I thought. So to wrap it up, if you have unlimited amount of cash or someone is practically giving it away for free, the Q3 is the obvious choice. But under any other circumstances, I would recommend the RX1RII or the Leica Q2 (second hand).